Anyone who has ever been in commission sales for more than six months has gone through a slump. Anyone can lose momentum and see their production spiral downward, but it takes a Sales Leader to get back on top. Earlier this year one of the life and health agents I coach was in a horrible sales slump. But in two short months he charged back and is now on track to have one of his best sales years ever.
Recently I talked to him and asked him how he made his big comeback. Here’s what he said he did to reverse course and get back on track:
- First and foremost he got back to basics. He started making phone calls on a regular systematic basis again. Few of us like making calls, but if you’re in sales, you have to pick up the phone. He bought and called leads. He called existing clients to schedule policy reviews. And he started asking for referrals again.
- He also started using his resume again when he met with clients and prospects. I advise my agents to create and carry a resume with them. Whenever they are opening a meeting with a client or prospect the agent takes the resume out and briefly discusses his licensing, education, designations, qualifications, specialties, years in the industry and any personal information the agent believes might be important to the client. Not only does this give the client an opportunity to learn they are dealing with a professional, it gives the agent an opportunity to rebuild his own confidence in himself.
- He started working on Saturdays again. No one got into commission sales to work nights and weekends. But when you get behind you sometimes have to worker longer hours. He said he used Saturday mornings to either add an extra appointment or two into his schedule, or to find an additional three or four hours to make phone calls. His Saturdays paid off. Some of his best sales in the past few months were generated from his Saturday activity.
- Being in a sales slump will kill your confidence. So he went out and made a couple of small, simple sales to get his confidence back up. Every industry or company has its version of the “small, simple low commission sale.” The idea is to remind yourself that you can make a presentation, overcome some objectives and place an order for your client.
- He also got help from other agents. He scheduled joint work with a high-end producing agent. Most guys in a slump hate to do this. They figure that if there is a commission to be earned, they want all of it. But he knew that half of something is better than all of nothing. Also he knew that working with a high producing agent would cause him to be accountable to a peer for his own production. He also knew he could learn from a high-end producing peer. WARNING: Many sales professionals in a slump like to team up with other people who are in a slump, or who are low producers. We do this because misery loves company. Don’t do this! If you’re in a slump and you want team up with someone, team up with someone who is a high producer. And then, don’t drag them down. Let them lift you up.
- He also realized that one of the reasons he was in a sales slump might have to do with lack of knowledge and training. Therefore, he enrolled in a continuing education class with The American College. He took FA 261 Foundations of Retirement Planning. He says he picked up some new sales language that better helped him communicate with his clients. He also learned some important concepts that helped him approach his existing clients to discuss their retirement planning. Finally, he was with a group of other sales professionals for several hours each week working on making himself better. All the members of the class learned form each other and gave each other ideas and encouragement.
- Finally, he got back to approaching clients from a planning perspective instead of a product perspective. People don’t buy products. They buy solutions to problems. In our industry our clients have three potential problems: dying too soon, living too long, or getting sick or hurt along the way and losing the ability to work. Although we offer many wonderful products that we are very proud of, the fact remains that no one in the general public wants to buy insurance. They do however want to manage risk and plan for the future. Once he got back to helping people put together a plan to manage their risk he started making more sales and better sales.
As you can see, my agent had to cover a lot of ground and take many steps to turn himself around. But his hard work and smart ideas have paid off. Back in April this agent was almost dead last in my business unit. Last month he was my business unit’s number two agent in applied for business and near the top in issued business. And if he continues to follow his own advice and engage in the seven activities listed above he should remain on top for the rest of the year.
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